Tennessee DUI News

In a recent Inquisitr article, Scott Falkner discusses two states that are considering lowering the legal drinking age from 21years of age to 18 years of age. Minnesota and California are considering the change because of the litigation of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) in the United States Supreme Court. Before jumping into the reasons Minnesota and California may lower the legal drinking age, a brief recap of why the legal drinking age was raised from 18 to to ... Read More »

Breath testing devices are commonly used by police officers in their pursuit to enforce Driving Under the Influence (DUI/DWI/OUI, etc.) laws across the nation. These devices not only detect the presence of ethanol, but also attempt to quantify the amount of alcohol in one’s blood. Every state has adopted a per se limit of .08 percent of alcohol in the person’s blood. This means that if a person has a blood alcohol level (breath tests are also commonly used to ... Read More »

Survey Suggests College Students have a High Risk of Substance Abuse A recent survey suggests that college students are less likely than those not attending college to be warned by healthcare professionals of the risks and dangers of abusing drugs or alcohol. This survey is extremely troubling because current college enrollees are “binge drinking” or drinking to an extreme in a short period of time. The results of the survey raise the question- why are these young students in college ... Read More »

A recent decision by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has affirmed that a private citizen may conduct a traffic stop on another private citizen. State v. Wilburn, (Tenn. Crim. App. 2015), was brought to the court’s attention on a certified question of law regarding the denial of the Defendant’s motion to suppress (make inadmissible) all evidence collected against him due to an unconstitutional traffic stop. The Wilburn case involved a driver being pulled over and eventually arrested by a ... Read More »

Development of high-tech equipment named the “Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety” (DADSS) aims to keep potential drunk drivers off the road. In a recent article written on timesunion.com by Tatiana Cirisano, this device will attempt to detect the driver’s blood alcohol content by using breath and touch tests. If the DADSS detects alcohol over the legal limit (.08 percent in all states), the vehicle will shut down and become non-operational. DADSS is a collaborative research partnership between the Automotive ... Read More »

Across our country police officers are using body cameras to videotape arrests. ABC News posted an article discussing the advantages and disadvantages of body camera use by police officers. A vendor with a photograph of a body camera and more information is: BodyCam. Some experts claim that body cameras will force police officers to follow procedure and allow for every moment at the time of the incident to be documented and reviewed. Others claim the equipment is too cumbersome or ... Read More »

Tennessee residents are familiar with the Governor’s Highway Safety’s Office (GHSO) ongoing campaign to deter drunk drivers. During the summer months, the GHSO has a reoccurring theme called “100 Days of Summer Heat Booze It and Lose It”. The main goal of this campaign is to prevent people from drinking and driving on Tennessee roads. Recently, the GHSO released a new campaign meant to target young males in Tennesseans bars and restaurants by printing coasters with an anti-drinking and driving ... Read More »

A recent USA Today article discusses how technological advances have developed new passive alcohol sensors that may help prevent drunk driving (DUI or DWI). Ignition Interlock Devices have been in general use around the country for years (requiring the driver to blow into the device before starting their vehicle in order to ensure their breath alcohol levels do not exceed the set limits) and are required for many drivers who have been convicted of a DUI or related offense in ... Read More »

Imagine being pulled over for a minor speeding violation. The law enforcement officer casually approaches your vehicle, checks your driver’s license, proof of insurance, registration, and then issues a warning for the trivial violation before returning to his patrol car. Relieved, the driver places the citation in his console assuming that the traffic stop had concluded. Unexpectedly, the law enforcement asks you if his police canine may walk around your vehicle. Despite your refusal, the police canine is jumping and ... Read More »

A 2015 study conducted and released by Wallethub.com, a personal finance website, ranks the strictness and/or leniency of penalties relating to DUI convictions in each state and the District of Columbia. Analysts for the company based their ranking system on several different factors including, but not limited to, mandatory minimum jail sentences and fines, administrative driver’s license suspension, length of time that an Ignition Interlock Device is required to be used by a DUI offender, and average monetary increase of ... Read More »